Jana Herzen, Musician And Jazz Label's Chief Cook

April 03, 2003|By JEFF RIVERS; Courant Staff Writer

Jana Herzen, a singer since the age of 5, describes herself as a cross between Suzanne Vega and Peter Gabriel. The 43-year-old alternative rocker and folk artist, who plays cowbells, guitar and an Australian didjeridu, has performed her world-beat-influenced music in the Australian outback and in Paris during a celebration for Nelson Mandela.

But since 2001, she's been working 16-hour days as CEO of Motema Music records, a new jazz label.

She works with the artists to get their records produced and distributed, and she lines up new investors to keep the label going.

``I didn't know what I was getting into,'' says Herzen, who endures long hours because, ``if I believe in something, I don't let go.''

Motema has put out its first two recordings: drummer Babatunde Lea's ``Soul Pools'' and the Lynne Arriale Trio's ``Arise.''

The first album was released in February; the latter bowed last week. Lea plays a hard-driving gregarious music, while Arriale's piano trio is often quiet and contemplative.

Nevertheless, Herzen says, the two performers and their bands share the ability to reach out and touch listeners. ``It's healing jazz,'' Herzen says of Lea and Arriale, musicians she believes can ``change the molecules in the room.''

In 1999, Herzen explored starting a private label in an effort to bring her own record of original tunes, ``Soup's on Fire,'' to market. She found the enterprise involved more than she thought. ``I was really naive,'' Herzen says, of her first aborted attempt to start a record label.

Two years later, while brainstorming with Lea with whom she had performed, the idea for starting a record label resurfaced.

This time, buttressed by money from by her parents, Leonard and Leonore Herzenberg, Stanford scientists and longtime arts patrons, Motema was born.

Besides Lea, a small group of creative and marketing people in California and New York is working to put out the records.

Ronnie Lippin (of the Lippin Group), whose clients include Mark Knopler and Eric Clapton, is handling public relations. Jean-Marc Lumbrano took the stunning and evocative pictures of Lea and Arriale that adorn their albums.

Although Herzen says she's learned a lot from studying and performing, the NYU graduate credits various day jobs for helping to prepare her to be a CEO.

Through the years, Herzen says, she's done everything from writing grant proposals for an arts organization to production work for a northern California ballet company.

``I've always been interested in structure, says Herzen, who has also worked as a carpenter's assistant.

At some point, Herzen says, that interest might lead her to write her own plays or produce movies.

Exploring the structure of various forms of music resulted in Herzen being influenced by Bonnie Raitt and African drummers.

Still, it was being shown a piece of African kente cloth that put her ``in the groove.'' A teacher explained that the intermingling and vibrant textures of the cloth were a visual representation of African beats, the pulse of the groove.

Herzen says she seeks to work with recording artists whose music springs from soul.

With their records on sale in the United States and Europe, Lea and Arriale are set to perform in separate engagements at New York's Jazz Standard next month.

The third record on the label will be Herzen's 11-song ``Soup's on Fire, '' which will go into wide release in July. It was test-marketed two years ago.

And if all goes well, projects from other artists will follow.

Still, though she knows she has to sell records and make money to keep the enterprise going, working solely for dollars doesn't make much artistic sense to Herzen. ``I'm just trying to put good music out, '' she says. ``For me, the music is the real value.''